January 31, 2007
A Regional Opportunity
Over the last few months Erie and Lafayette have been working on potential revenue sharing opportunities on land north the new Super WalMart and South of Arapahoe on 287. This land is covered by an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between Erie, Lafayette, and Boulder County which will require regional cooperation to revise.As I've written previously, Erie and Lafayette have also been cooperating on what a reroute of Highway 7 would look like to take traffic away from Peak to Peak Charter school and Pioneer elementary while giving Erie a new quality entrance to town east of the Lafayette sewer plant. Both of these items may be in the mutual benefit off our communities.
Recently, Lowes completed its market research and determined that the SE corner of Highway 7 (Baseline) and 119th would be the best place to put a new retail store. From a corporate view, it makes good profitability sense to put a Lowes at this site as it is the only intersection on Highway 7 that connects Broomfield, Erie, and Lafayette in one 4-corner place.
Although Erie and Broomfield both have attractive commercial land available on Highway 7 further to the East, none of our parcels connect our communities like the corner of 119th and Baseline.Lafayette City Council has chosen to let their citizens decide if the Lowes should be annexed to Lafayette. This of course makes the discussion more challenging as Lafayette’s Council is no longer the clear decision maker. In forming my view it became clear that locating a Big Box at the intersection of Baseline and 19th was not in the best interest of our mutual goal to reduce traffic on Baseline. It also became clear that working together with Lafayette we could, perhaps, seize an opportunity to think regionally, preserve buffers between our towns, and reduce traffic while increasing safety near our shared schools. That can be accomplished by placing big box development on Highway 287 where revenue sharing is a possibility and roads already exist to handle the traffic.
This is the Erie Board of Trustee proposal sitting with Lafayette now. Of course this will not be an easy discussion or road to follow for any leader in the region. There are competing pressures.In the long term, after the emotions of the short term are gone, we'll all be judged by how well we've planned in a sustainable way.
Either a new commercial area will be erected at 119th and Baseline removing a wonderful buffer between Erie and Lafayette, or we will sit down and find a way to preserve our buffers, reduce traffic, increase safety, and share revenue in our bordering areas. It is hard to say what will happen next.
The Lafayette City Council would have preferred Erie kept this private. I understand that. I may have complicated things for some, but maybe, just maybe, we'll make something happen for the good of the region.
Best Regards,
Andrew
303.482.3037
6 comments:
The timing of Mayor Moore's public statements are somewhat odd, but the readers can decide for themselves on that one. I think we need to replace "have also been cooperating" with "informally agreed to cooperate" as I am unaware of any council motions by either council on that score. I challenge Mayor Moore to put his money where his mouth is. Get a council resolution from Erie agreeing to pay half the costs of an environmental impact study (the first step in moving forward on a bypass plan). Then we would truly be cooperating!
I'm not going to comment on Andrew Moore (cavalier prima donna) but I do want to know where Jay Rugerri and David Strungis stand in this election. Their silence reeks of weakness. If Rugerri and Strungis think cowering instead of aserting a point of view is a strategic way to avoid conflict they need to step aside and let leaders lead.
Allow me to add some additional facts to Mr. Moore's "Regional Opportunity."
- In 1999, Lafayette approached Erie about revenue sharing on the properties that later became Safeway, King Soopers, Walgreens, Chili's, and the new Super Wal-mart (and more). Erie's answer? No.
-In June of 2006, Lafayette again approached Erie about revenue sharing on land on 287 and Highway 7 (including the Waneka property). Lafayette offered up specific properties and asked Erie for comparable properties. Lafayette also provided Erie with the information that Lowe's had informed us they were not interested in the 287 location and would go east to Broomfield if they couldn't build on the Waneka property. Erie's response? No.
- In late November 2006, Lafayette again offered to revenue share 12 acres on 287 north of Wal-mart. Erie's response in January was "only if the Lowe's is built there."
I won't speculate on what prompted Erie's eleventh hour change of heart on (non-viable) revenue sharing, but readers should judge for themselves about who has been thinking regionally and "working with the neighbors."
As far as this council person is concerned, aside from all of Mayor Moore's double talk, he is absolutely wrong about Lafayette's council preferring to "keep this private". These types of issues are always discussed in executive sessions for legal reasons. Personally I could care less. Once we learned that Mayor Moore was talking to the press we immediately agreed to open our executive session records on this subject. I would suspect what council is really upset about his twisting of the truth. This is not about emotions, Mayor Moore, this is about trust and honesty. If you think this will not impact any future discussion with Erie you need to guess again.
Does this mean that dreamer-believer can go to city hall and read the minutes of your executive session FranK?
That is my understanding. However time may be a factor, since I believe according to the rules these are only kept for 90 days.
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